Source: Vikings RB Bishop Sankey has torn ACL

Vikings running back Bishop Sankey suffered a torn right ACL in the third quarter the Vikings’ win over the Bills on Thursday night, according to a NFL source, and will miss the 2017 season.

Sankey, a second-round pick by the Titans in 2014, was the first running back drafted that year with the 54th overall pick. He was signed to the Vikings’ practice squad last November, and carried four times for 14 yards in the Vikings’ preseason opener before injuring his leg on a 14-yard run in the third quarter. He was on crutches with a brace on his right knee in the Vikings’ locker room after the game, and a MRI on Friday showed he tore his ACL.

The only other Vikings running backs to log carries on Thursday night were Terrell Newby (who ran 12 times for 26 yards) second-round pick Dalvin Cook and fullback C.J. Ham. The team played on Thursday night without veterans Latavius Murray and Jerick McKinnon, who sat out because of injuries.

In their search for running back depth, the Vikings could add a familiar name to Minnesota football fans: They’re scheduled to work out former Gophers running back David Cobb on Saturday.

Cobb, who set the Gophers’ single-season rushing record in 2014, was a fifth-round pick of the Titans in 2015, and spent time with the Steelers and Bears after Tennessee let him go. He ran for 146 yards on 52 carries in 2015, in a year where a calf injury put him on injured reserve.

“It was tough, in the middle of the season,” Cobb said. “You don’t really have time to heal. The ball didn’t kind of bounce your way, but the good thing about it is, you heal up and you get another opportunity. I just want to make the most of it.”

The Vikings brought Cobb in for a pre-draft visit in 2015, and the running back said he and the team are “familiar with each other.” Cobb has had interest from “a couple” other teams, he said, but the Vikings would present him with a unique opportunity.

He said he hadn’t talked to former Gophers teammates (and current Vikings) like Isaac Fruechte about the tryout, but added it’d be “10 times easier” to start with a new team if it were in a market he already knew.

“Just to be familiar with the place, to know where you are, know exactly who’s here and have people supporting you, it’d definitely make it easier,” he said.

Cobb played with Sankey in Tennessee, and the two became close friends in their time together with the Titans.

“Bishop’s my guy,” he said. “I just talked to him earlier, and talked to him before the game. I wish him well, and I wish him recovery. He can play. He was doing good, and I hate to see it happen to him like that.”